Meditations prepared for the service reflected on victims of human trafficking, migrants who risk death trying to reach affluent nations, inmates in overcrowded prisons, the jobless and children whose health had been endangered by Italian mobsters illegally dumping toxic wastes in their neighborhoods and farmland.

In the streets near the Colosseum, tens of thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans clutched prayer books and candles.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All
rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.